Mountain lion captured in Sonoma Valley yard

<p>A 60-pound female mountain lion was captured in the back yard of a Sonoma Valley home Thursday afternoon.</p><p>“It definitely surprised me. She had to go through several neighborhoods to get to where she was,” neighbor Jim Haver said. “I’m just glad they got her out safe.”</p><p>A resident of the 16000 block of Calle de la Luna in Agua Caliente called the Sheriff’s Department just before 1 p.m. to report the mountain lion was lounging in the branches of a redwood tree, authorities said.</p><p>“She was very impressive,” Sgt. Dave Pederson said. “She was beautiful. She put her head up and was looking at us and I thought ‘I’m not sure what she’s thinking, but I hope I can handle it.’”</p><p>Deputies formed a perimeter around the back yard, and asked neighbors to stay inside with their doors and windows closed.</p><p>They also diverted Sonoma Valley Unified school buses from the area.</p><p>Biologists from the California Department of Fish and Game got to the house just before 2 p.m. and shot the cat with a tranquilizer, Pedersen said.</p><p>“She came out of the tree gingerly,” he said. “She was woozy, moving her feet and looking at us as she inched down.”</p><p>Once on the ground, biologists put a leather blindfold and muzzle over the cat’s face, restrained her paws, and gathered her up in a hammock, Pedersen said.</p><p>The cat was safely placed in a wooden crate and taken out of the area, he said.</p><p>Fish and Game Lt. Steve Riske said the mountain lion was being monitored and evaluated by biologists out of the area and would likely be released in a wildlife preserve out of the county.</p><p>Neighbor Shelia Harmon was baby-sitting her two young grandchildren when the mountain lion was spotted and captured. She said it was the first time she had seen one and was surprised it came into a residential area.</p><p>“I hope she’s OK,” Harmon said. “It’s too bad she was in the neighborhood.”</p>